DPM's score: Malay 1, Malaysian 2

By FMT staff

KUALA LUMPUR: Although the scoreline indicates that “Malaysian” won the match, Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, however, said as far as he is concerned it is Malay first.

The Umno deputy president said if he called himself Malaysian first, he would be shunned by his own race.

However, Muhyiddin also stressed that he is very much Malaysian.

"I am Malay first but this doesn't mean I am not Malaysian," he told reporters in Parliament.

Muhyiddin was responding to a challenge by DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang, who asked the deputy premier to state which came first for him – being Malaysian or Malay.

Lim does not understand 1Malaysia

According to Muhyiddin, Lim has failed to grasp the true meaning of the government's “1Malaysia” concept.

"How can I say I'm Malaysian first and Malay second?” he asked. “All the Malays would shun me... and it's not proper.”

Earlier today, Lim said Muhyiddin should resign if he is not prepared to declare that in accordance with 1Malaysia goal, he is Malaysian first and Malay second.

The opposition stalwart was reacting to Muhyiddin's earlier comments, where he accused Lim of attempting to create fissures between Najib and him.

Muhyiddin had taken the Ipoh Timur MP to task for questioning his commitment to the 1Malaysia concept.

He explained that the concept is aimed at fortifying racial unity, and is not a form of assimilation where a person's indentity is erased and does not reject the special rights of the Malays as claimed by Lim.

'Malaysian first, Chinese second'

However, Lim, who declared himself Malaysian first and Chinese second, said it is clear that Muhyiddin believes in the maxim that the best defence is offence.

“He completely evaded the three questions which I described as the three acid tests as to whether he really supports Najib’s 1Malaysia concept and has the 1Malaysia DNA,” he added.

The three acid tests for Muhyiddin were:

1. Whether he agrees to the establishment of an opposition-headed Parliamentary Select Committee on 1Malaysia;
2. Is he prepared to declare that the basis of 1Malaysia is 'ketuanan rakyat' and not 'ketuanan Melayu'; and
3. Is he prepared to endorse the objective of 1Malaysia as defined by the 1Malaysia Government Transformation Programme (GTP) Roadmap to create a nation where every Malaysian perceives himself or herself as Malaysian first, and by race, religion or region second.

Lim said he also framed a fourth question as a result of the “evasion and prevarication” by Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin during the exchange in Parliament.

The fourth challege to Muhyddin was: Whether he is prepared to declare that the basis of the Malaysian Constitution is ketuanan rakyat and not ketuanan Melayu?

'Desperate politician'

Lim lambasted Muhyiddin for going on the offensive to launch a baseless and scurrilous attack against him, “alleging that I had questioned Malay special rights and rejected the differences in identity of the different races and the spirit of the constitution”.

“Muhyiddin must be a very desperate politician that he had to make such a baseless charge, as I had refuted the allegation that I opposed Article 153 of the Constitution.

“Isn’t Muhyiddin’s refusal to make such a declaration the best proof that he does not fully support Najib’s 1Malaysia concept?” he asked.

However, Muhyiddin claimed that the "chauvinistic" DAP was rattled by 1Malaysia's success.

Arguing that there is nothing wrong in leaders fighting for the needs of their race, the deputy premier asked if Lim would state that he is not going to stand up for Chinese rights.

"It does not mean that when we help the Malays, we won't help the Chinese," he said.

Muhyiddin also took a swipe at DAP's 'Middle Malaysia', challenging Lim to prove that PAS and PKR supported compared to the 1 Malaysia concept which is backed by all BN component parties.

During his first Cabinet meeting after taking over the leadership reins last April, Najib had reportedly urged his ministers to think of all citizens as members of one team rather than people of different races.

He also made a plea for all Malaysians to discard their ethnic mentality and think and act as one people.